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How to change the formatting symbols into grey or shaded colour?

Ka San Chung 0 Reputation points
2026-01-26T10:53:40.9266667+00:00

The formatting symbols in Word were originally grey, which made them easy to distinguish from the main text. However, they have recently turned black for no apparent reason. Could you please advise whether there is a way to change them back to a grey or shaded color?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For education | Windows
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  1. Stefan Blom 342.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2026-01-26T11:31:09.1833333+00:00

    In Word for Windows, the nonprinting marks are the same color as the text. With the text color set to "Automatic," that usually means black color, and when the text is explicitly set to red (for example), the marks are red. See the screen shot below.

    In Word for Mac, the nonprinting marks have a color which is different from that of the text, though.

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  2. AI answer

    2026-01-26T10:53:49.4733333+00:00

    Currently, there is no direct option in Microsoft Word to change the color of formatting symbols (such as paragraph marks and spaces) specifically to grey or any other color. The color of these symbols is generally determined by the application's theme settings or system settings. If the formatting symbols have turned black, it could be related to the current theme or display settings.

    One potential workaround is to restart Word or your computer, as some users have reported that this can reset the display settings back to normal. If the issue persists, you may want to check your display settings or consider adjusting the overall theme of your Office applications, although this will affect all applications uniformly.

    If you are experiencing issues with visibility, you might also want to explore adjusting your screen resolution or color quality settings, as these can impact how colors are displayed in Word.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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